The Evanian Escapade: The Arakuur Woods

Chapter 6: Beginning of an Adventure

Before starting off their journey, Aki gave El a small brown bag.

    "What's this? Food?"

    "Yes, and a tent, a pocket knife, an arca, a rope and a dagger. We'll need all of this for our journey." She said, while putting on a bag of her own.

An arca is a leather sack with a coating of tar on the outside and is used to store water. The girl had taken out a map from a dusty shelf on the wall

    "There are two sandwiches in your bag. One will be for lunch, which we will eat when we reach the Lake of Wisdom, and the other at the Abandoned Meadow. Then we stop at a tiny cottage in the Forest of the Reptiles,"

The boy gazed in wonder at the neatly drawn map of Evania. He had to rule over such a large land, it was good that he could travel and scout the region and get to know the well.

If something were to happen to him, who would rule? What would happen to the kingdom? What would father say? All these doubts came to his mind. For the first time in his life, he felt scared for his own life... He brushed off these frightening thoughts and remembered his childhood expeditions with Cob...

"That time he saved me from a forest snake, and the other time we almost got stuck in a blizzard, and when we had helped a baby eagle get back to her nest... Oh, what fun we used to have as kids!

Gosh, sometimes I wish we never grew up. Now, he doesn't get to attack me in a friendly way... 'Respecting royalty' and what not. I wonder how I shall rule if I have such childish wants. Is it childish to miss your friend. He may not be physically missing but, the Cob I knew is."

He was brought back to reality when he heard a voice calling his name from outside and a sound alike to an eagle's call immediately after. He exited the house at once and, to his surprise, it was a phoenix!

This one had gold eyes, almost like the young Kurabite had. It's wings were a bright splash of turquoise, purple and gray. It reminded him of the ocean, water, coral and fish. It's beak popped with orange and it's crown of feathers was a fiery red.

He couldn't help but gasp at it's beauty, and even more at the elegance of the girl standing beside it. The wind dramatized the scene even more. A single strand of her hair seemed seaweed green rather than brown.

"Was this her body's response to Zaprize or sunlight? I don't remember her hair colour being like this in the early morning candle-lit room."

He seldom noticed people's features much but, to him, her familiarity was incomprehensible. "Who does she look like?" Interrupted by a peculiar-sounding language, he turned to the direction of the voice.

Akira was communicating to the creature in Honestus, the ancient language of The Redsand Cliffs. "Is the pheonix from the cliffs?" He had learnt to ride many creatures, but never could communicate to them directly. In fact, he had never seen a phoenix before.

He had heard of them in poems and literary pieces but only seen them in his imagination. The symbol of burning and setting itself on fire yet, rising from the ashes as an even more beautiful version of itself.

"I hope the phoenix doesnt burn itself while we're riding on it! It may be able to resist the fire but I can't! I'm still a  flammable little Evanian."

He expressed his concern to Aki. Unfortunately for him, her response was,

    "Ha ha ha ha ha! I can't believe you asked that. So silly... ha!"

Her laughter quietened and ceased... until she saw El's attempt to mount the pheonix. Then, the chuckling continued. El, embarrassed, continued trying but failed, multiple times. His face blushed a bright red. Even the pheonix made a sound similar to a laugh.

    "You're so bad at this, El." said Aki.

    "No, I'm not. I just haven't understood how to get on such a ginormous creature."

    "Let me show you how then."

She chirpily swung her leg to the side as a pivot and flung herself to the top of the pheonix. "She makes it look so easy!" He pouted.

He hopped onto the saddle, a few more attempts later, and started their journey...